


Fresh Snow

by madamedicelia



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-23
Updated: 2013-11-23
Packaged: 2018-01-02 10:13:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1055555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madamedicelia/pseuds/madamedicelia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Our beloved Matthew Williams transfers to a new high school and settles into his usual antisocial and awkward self but then a certain someone comes along and inadvertently shakes things up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fresh Snow

**Author's Note:**

> I know it's not typical/normal/proper xreader format but I feel like Canada's insights and perspective are vital to the story. Regardless, hope you enjoy it!

            On the other side of the door I could hear people talking and laughing at jokes I’d probably never understand or hear. My hand hesitated on the doorknob but I knew the second bell would ring any second signaling the start of homeroom. The door opened with a creak and squeak and I quietly slipped into the classroom. I made my way to the back of the room where the few empty desks were.

            From my place I could see the individual cliques and groups of friends. They teased each other like they’d known each other for years. I didn’t stand a chance at trying to befriend any of them. They’d probably just forget me or ignore my presence like everyone else did. Even worse, I’d just transferred in the middle of the year so the teachers would be stumbling over my name along with anyone who bothered to speak to me.

            I knew it wasn’t Arthur’s fault but his job required us to move from the city to a more suburban town. My brother Alfred was a bit annoyed, too, since all his friends were in the city and now they were hundreds of miles apart. Alfred and I were Arthur’s adopted sons since obviously he and his husband Francis couldn’t have biological children. They took us in when we were so young I can’t remember life before them, not even at the orphanage. We never knew what happened to our real parents. Whenever Alfred or I asked, they only said we had been left at the door one night with a note that simply read, “Please take care of my dear sons Matthew and Alfred as I can no longer do so.”

I don’t really mind though. Arthur and Francis are the best parents I could ask for. Clearly they’re better then whoever my biological parents were since they abandoned Alfred and me at such a young age.

            The bell shook my out of my thoughts. The teacher took the head count silently, his pencil bobbing in the air as he counted everyone. The announcements played and another bell marked the start of first period.

            I clutched my books to my chest as I walked to my classes all day. I had a backpack but holding them gave me a sense of security along with an excuse to not look at people as I traveled. At the start of every class the teacher would give me a brief introduction, I’d wave awkwardly while the class would give me a half-hearted greeting back. Soon thereafter I’d be forgotten, left to fend for myself as I tried to keep up with all the new information.

            When the last bell rung I sighed in relief. I was actually excited for afterschool. I had tried out for the hockey team the day before and made it in. They were a bit uneasy at first since tryouts had technically ended two weeks ago but made concessions since I’d transferred. They were thoroughly impressed after they saw me play. I may seem meek and confused but on the ice I rule. I feel at home in the rink, like nothing can beat me. It’s exhilarating.

            But that was still three hours from now.

            I headed for the library to do my homework since I wouldn’t have time after practice. The stacks separated the tables so it felt slightly isolated while one studied. Much to my dismay, all of the tables were taken. I wandered to the back, worriedly hoping there was one left. A girl with (h/l) (h/c) hair was seated alone with her textbooks. I shuffled anxiously to the bookshelves, looking at nothing in particular. I really disliked talking to people in general, especially girls, especially since this girl was really attractive. The worst part for me was the anxiety if she said no or if yes, the awkward small talk that would happen would be inevitable from our proximity. Then that would keep us both from studying and she’d get annoyed for my bothering her and we’d lapse into a really uncomfortable silence and still not get any work done and she’d get even angrier.

            Alfred would say I’m over-thinking this but I feel it’s important to consider these things.

            As I mulled this over I realized I really needed to start on my homework since I had a lot to make up. I gathered up and the little strands of courage I had and walked over to the girl.

            And promptly walked past her to the other bookshelf.

            I’d tell myself I walked away because I didn’t want to bother her but really I was just scared to talk to her because she was really attractive.

            I left the table and found a spot on the floor away from everyone where I could peacefully study. It wasn’t the most comfortable position but at least I was alone. I know I always wanted to be popular and be friends with everyone but I’d been left out so long I’d grown attached to it. I felt safe when I was alone. I didn’t have to worry about what others thought of me or how to act right. I could just relax and do what I needed to do without distractions. I was so caught up in my studies I nearly missed hockey practice.

            I threw all my papers in my bag and booked it to the ice rink. Luckily I had my favorite red hoodie on because it was farther and colder than I thought. I could see my breath as I jogged past piles of snow mixed with leaves in a weird multi-seasonal amalgam.

            Practice went great. I mean, I’d definitely played on better teams but they weren’t so bad. All the awkwardness of the day melted away the second I stepped onto the ice. Others may be good at socializing or science or math but hockey was my talent.

            I lingered on the rink after practice until the rest of the guys had changed and left. I find locker rooms rather uncomfortable and awkward. I was pretty thin but my height made me lanky and almost scrawny. Nothing to admire really.

            The next few days went pretty much the same. I’d sit quietly in class then hide in a corner in the library to do my homework. Afterwards was practice or working out at the gym to stay fit for hockey. I’d return home exhausted but pleasantly accomplished. Alfred was adjusting to our move as well. At dinner all he’d talk about were his new friends Ivan and Yao, along with some brief mentions about the latest video games.

            Eventually people found other places to study (i.e. chat about the Kardashians) so I could now spare myself the scoliosis and sit at a table. It always seemed to be the table next to the girl I saw on the first day I went into the library. We had a sort of unspoken agreement that we save the table for each other but otherwise not acknowledge each other while we worked. It was peaceful. Rather unsocial but nice.

            One day after hockey practice I was waiting for everyone to leave so I could change in peace, when I heard someone skating. This was weird because the rink was usually closed at this point. I tiptoed out of the locker room and peeped around the corner.

            Someone, a girl it looked like, was practicing these crazy jumps and spins. She had a (f/c) scarf that trailed behind her as she spun around and zoomed across the ice. I crept forward a little to watch. I have little knowledge about figure skating but this girl looked really talented. She slid around elegantly and performed difficult-looking stunts. She had a sort of grace about her that seemed like she was dancing, like an ice ballerina.

            My thrall was broken when the girl suddenly crashed to the ice. It seemed she had tried to spin one too many times and landed badly. I ran out onto the ice in my street shoes to see if she was alright. I’m normally one to stay out of the fray but I didn’t even think before I started moving. I guess it was just human instinct to help others if they get injured right in front of you.

            I half-slid to a stop by her.

            “A-are you okay?” I asked nervously. It’s sunk in that I had been technically creeping on her.

            She rubbed her forehead and said, “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a bad landing; I’ve fallen lots of times, I’ll be alright.”

            “Oh, that’s… good,” I responded clumsily. “Need a hand?” I stuck out my hand to help pull her up.

            “Thanks,” she grunted as she yanked herself (and possibly my arm out of its socket) up. Her fingers were freezing and snow covered against my own which had been warm in my hoodie pocket. “What are you doing here by the way? I thought the rink closed a while ago.”

            “I-uh- I had hockey practice,” I stuttered. I mentally berated myself for sounding so stupid.

            “Oh neat.” She tilted her head. “Hey, I know you. You’re Matthew. You’re in some of my classes.”

            I raised my eyebrows. It wasn’t often people remembered me. Then I recognized her face.

            “And you’re the girl who always sits at the other table in the library. I didn’t know you skated.” I immediately regretted that last sentence. Who was I to know anything about anyone, especially this girl I’d basically just met?

            She smiled. “Yep, I do. Just for fun though; I’m too much of a nerd to ever get seriously involved with sports. You could probably tell from all the textbooks I usually have,” she chuckled. “My name’s (y/n) by the way.”

            I returned her grin and said jokingly, “So… we should probably get off the ice before the place closes and we’re trapped.”

            “Yeah, but think of what a good horror movie it would be!” she teased with a smirk that showed she was holding in a laugh and failing.

            I put my hand over my heart and looked at her in mock terror. “I knew the Zamboni guy was up to no good!”

            She giggled and started skating to the door off the ice. I struggled to keep up in my slippery shoes. She spun and glided back to me.

            “Having trouble?” She smirked as she effortlessly skated backwards.

            “Naw, I’m just dandy. Felt like admiring the ice crystals starting to freeze on my legs. It’s quite fascinating really,” I replied sarcastically but with lopsided smile to lessen the impact.

            She slid to a stop next to me with a snort of laughter and held out her arm. “Grab on; I won’t let you fall. Or get frozen into a popsicle.”

            I latched onto her arm like it was my lifeline and we slowly made our way to the door. We chatted the whole time, about this and that, nothing very deep but I found it amusing. It was nice to be able to talk to someone without worrying about every little thing. She just had an air about her that made you feel relaxed and at home.

            I ended up walking her back to the school since it had gotten dark. It didn’t feel like that much time had passed. Though it seemed like minutes we had talked for almost an hour.

            The next day I saw (y/n) in the classes we shared and instead of sitting alone in the back, she saved me a seat next to her. She would make faces at the boring stories we had to read in English and I would have to cover my mouth to keep from laughing out loud. In anatomy, we worked together on some papers and came up with funny acronyms to remember all the bones. I nearly snorted when she started singing that Hannah Montana song.

            In the classes where we couldn’t sit next to each or had to be silent, I would catch her smiling at me or sending me a note. Her glances were just platonic, though, or to get my attention so she could send her note. Luckily she never saw me ogling her. I wasn’t going to lie she was attractive. Her (h/c) hair always fell around her face when she was writing and she was always too into her work to bother to tuck it behind her ear. It was a dumb thought but I couldn’t banish the hope from my head.

            At lunch, for the first time, I sat with actual people instead of just my book bag. Though I didn’t say much, I enjoyed watching (y/n)’s friends made dirty jokes and argue about random things like Vikings and Poland. God knows why they picked those things but it was hilarious. It just felt so good to be included I didn’t really care whether they made rude jokes, discussed ancients Polynesians or just waved their arms around shouting “SWAAGGGGG!” I was content to have friends. The weirder the better. Normal people are boring.  
            Every subsequent day was like this, somewhat predictable but also a total surprise. I never knew what these people were going to do next but it was sure to be entertaining. Afterschool, (y/n) and I would study together until I had to leave for hockey practice.

            Then came the most memorable day of my life. (Y/n) had been cleaning out her attic and found a bunch of old temporary tattoos and brought them in. Coincidentally, one of her friends had accidentally grabbed an excess of napkins. The residential health nut of the table had extra bottles of water.

            That was all the motivation we needed.

            We used a plastic knife to separate the tattoos and soaked bunches of napkins in water to put on the tattoos. Being rather old, the tattoos had no singular theme. They spanned the spectrum from cutesy animals to holiday themed to random bands and quotes. Soon enough the table was flooded and we had turned into a gang of bikers with sleeves full of Hello Kitty and Pink Floyd.

            I noticed (y/n) had been holding a tattoo on her arm almost the whole time and was looking confused.

            “Is yours working?” I asked. Maybe the tattoos were too old and didn’t transfer anymore.

            “I don’t think so…” She slowly peeled off the dripping napkins and the tattoo was still attached to them. “Why isn’t it working?” she mumbled to herself, her eyebrows furrowing.

            I saw a glint and laughed. “(Y/n), you left the plastic on!” I reached over and peeled the film off. “Try it now.”

            “I feel so dumb now,” she said abashedly but laughing at herself.

            “Don’t worry, I don’t think anyone saw,” I reassured her. I noted her cheeks were still pink so I added, “How about I do something dumb, too, so you aren’t left out?”

            “Are you sure?” she asked slightly suspiciously. “You don’t have to; I’ve done lots of more embarrassing things before, I’ll be fine. A little humiliation will do me good.”

            Suddenly full of bravado, I responded, “Why not? Maybe people will notice me for once.”

            “Well if you’re volunteering…” She trailed off as she searched through the ever-dwindling pile of tattoos and ever-growing mess of soggy paper.

            “This one!” she exclaimed and held up a small tattoo of a red maple leaf. “Right… here.” She reached up and slapped on my forehead.

            All of a sudden my inexplicable courage vanished and this didn’t seem like such a good idea anymore. But (y/n) had already put a dripping wad of paper on my forehead. There was no turning back.

            “That’s cold,” I mumbled, mouth half closed. The water was dripping down my face and I didn’t really want to know what napkin/tattoo water tasted like.

            “Just a couple more seconds,” (y/n) said as she struggled to balance on her toes. I hadn’t noticed we had such a height difference but now I saw that I towered above her by more than a foot.

            “There!” She peeled the now warm papers away from my head. She tilted her head to the side and stroked her chin as if pondering by rubbing an imaginary mustache.

            “So?” I asked apprehensively. Her look was making me nervous.

            Her face suddenly broke into a grin. “It looks perfect!”

            Extremely curious, I searched for something reflective. That thing happened to be a spoon but it served the purpose. I angled my face this way and that way to get a good look at my new tattoo. It did look all right, if you ignored the fact I now had a glaring maple leaf in the center of my face.

            But I didn’t really mind. It was funny and I was caught up in the moment. Glancing around I saw I wasn’t the worse victim. Someone had One Direction’s faces all over her own. Now that’s a super fan. Super meaning slightly insane and obsessed.

            “I can’t wait to hear what our teachers are going to say,” (y/n) said doubling over with laughter. Looking at out motley crew I started chuckling, too.

            The lunch bell rang abruptly caused us to scramble to toss everything away and gather up our books for next class. It was only when I was laying on my desk in History that I realized everyone in the cafeteria probably had been staring at us. Even more shocking was that I was okay with that. Even though I had longed for attention and recognition I was also scared of it and what it would bring. The fact that I was so unperturbed quite frankly astonished me. When had this change happened? I mean I wasn’t about to go join drama club or voluntarily raise my hand in class but I wasn’t so terrified of being myself around people anymore.

            “Hey, Canada! Pay attention.” One of my classmates jabbed me in the head and glared at me.

            Apparently I was raising suspicion about my conscientious state by putting my head down. This had never happened before but the honking red leaf on my face but draw some attention. And a new nickname. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that but I didn’t argue.

            Much to my surprise, Canada was my new moniker among my peers, the few that knew me. (Y/n)’s friends would call it out in the hallways between classes as a greeting and it spread from there. I decided I didn’t really mind. It was fitting.

            The next few weeks flew by. Having friends and all my classes and games kept me busy. (Y/n) would often come to my games and cheer me on. It was a very sweet gesture since it seemed all my teammates had whole posses dedicated to them. But I had a feeling that most of those people just cheered them on because they were popular rather than being real friends. That’s why I valued (y/n)’s cheers more than if the whole school were shouting for me.

            It was nearing midterms so I went over (y/n)’s house so we could study all our shared classes together. This translates into joking around and watching anime most of the time with short interludes of work. Midway through we decided to go outside to release some energy from being sat all day.

            (Y/n)’s house abutted the woods so her backyard was endless whiteness with only bare trees dotting the landscape. I squinted as saw a reflection in the distance.

            “Hey, (y/n), do you have a pond in you back yard?” I asked.

            “Yeah, I use it to practice my figure skating sometimes when I can’t go to the rink.” She adjusted her hat so it covered her already red ears better.

            “Do you think we could skate? I mean, I have my skates in my car so…” I trailed off. I couldn’t read her expression so I left off in case I rambled and said something I’d regret.

            “Actually that sounds like a great idea. I’ll be right back.” She ran back into her house. She was wearing the same scarf she’d been wearing when I first met her at the rink and just like back then, it trailed behind her, a bright splotch of color amid all the snow.

            I trudged through the snow to my car and popped open the trunk. A few seconds searching through all the junk and I found my ice skates. (Y/n) wasn’t back yet so I wandered over to the little pond. I could see the overlapped lines and dents left by (y/n) skates. I plopped down in the snow and laced up.

            “Wait for me!” I looked back and saw (y/n) running with one skate in each hand. She leapt and landed in the snow next to me and began switching her footwear.

            I waited for her and we stepped carefully on the ice together. As soon its stability was checked, (y/n) zoomed away. I was little slower but eventually caught up with her in the center of the pond. She did a quick leap and landed backwards on one foot. It seemed so easy and elegant but also so difficult.

            As if reading my mind, (y/n) asked, “Do you think you could jump? It’s not that hard and you’ve been skating a while so it can’t be that hard.”

            I skated in a lazy figure eight and replied, “It looks easy but I don’t know. I haven’t got those fancy toe pick things you have on your skates.”

            She slid up to me and grabbed my hands, dragging me along as she moved backwards. “Not even a tiny hop?” She asked with a sly smile. I knew she was goading me but I was curious to see if I could indeed do it. Oh, my mortal flaw of curiosity.

            “Maybe,” I replied offhand. I had decided I would do it but she didn’t know that.

            “Please? C’mon it’d be fun.” She swung my arms around as if that somehow demonstrated her point. Ineffective but cute.

            I had given up on repressing my feelings for (y/n) but would never let myself make a move on her. For one thing, it was completely unlikely my feelings were reciprocated. Secondly, I didn’t have the courage. I was too scared of rejection or ruining our friendship to ever tell her how I felt.

            I shook off (y/n)’s hands and idly glided away with a noncommittal noise. Luckily I was turned away from her so she couldn’t see my smirk.

            “Oh well, you’re missing out on all the fun,” she sang. We both knew the game we were playing and were just waiting for a victor.

            Sadly, that person would not be me today. Oh me of the weak will.

            “Okay, fine. How do I do it, preferably without falling?”

            She squeaked in joy and explained it to me. It was rather simple as one would expect but it was the matter of balancing that would be difficult.

            “So here I go.” I rolled my eyes. “I’d move away if I were you, there’s a high possibility that I will fall.”

            “You won’t fall!” she shouted as she skated away. How reassuring.

            Taking a deep breath of cold air, I started forward. If I’m going to try I might as well go all out. I followed the steps (y/n) told me; I dug the tip of my skate into the ice and pushed off. I brought my other leg forward and somehow managed to land. It wasn’t really a jump as much as a trip but I was in the air for a second or two.

            In my high spirits, I threw my hands into the air and whooped. Sadly, this threw off my already precarious balance and I came tumbling down.

            I heard (y/n) giggling as she skated over. “You did it!” she shouted in joy.

            “Almost,” I chuckled. Her laugh was contagious.

            “At least you tried!” (Y/n) grinned and reached out a hand. “Need help?”

            I smiled wryly and said, “Funny, I remember saying that same thing to you when we first met.”

            Nevertheless, I took her gloved hand in my own snow-covered one and pulled myself up. However, I overestimated my strength and crashed into (y/n) when I stood up. She held my arms to steady us both.

            “Oh,” I gasped.

            (Y/n) gasped as well and looked up at me with wide eyes. There were only a few centimeters separating us, our lips mere inches apart. Her eyelids fluttered shut and she leaned up, her mouth searching for mine.

            On the inside I was freaking the frick out but somehow remained calm on the outside. All my repressed feelings took over and my body leaned down on its own account and met her lips. They were cold and tasted faintly of lemons. After what seemed like an eternity, we pulled away.

            “Wow.” was all I could manage to say with my jumbled thoughts running a million miles an hour.

            She smiled shyly and said, “I’ve been wanting to do that ever since I first saw you in the library.”

            “I feel the same way,” I exhaled and leaned down to kiss her again.

            Her arms twined around my neck like a sunflower growing up towards the sun. I felt cold snowflakes hit my face but ignored them. There was nothing that could ruin this moment.


End file.
